I always have had a slightly jaundiced view about people who promote books about themselves.
Well, there are more writers of blogs right now than there are readers, so that's clearly a vanity phenomenon.
If people buy my books for vanity, I consider it a tax on idiocy.
I am particularly wary of authors who put themselves on the cover of their own book.
I have always discouraged young writers from self-publishing, by which I mean going to a vanity publisher and spending your hard earned savings - say, some two-three lakhs - and getting your book printed. It's not published; it's printed!
The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing; every one must be an author; some out of vanity, to acquire celebrity and raise up a name, others for the sake of mere gain.
The Internet is the ultimate vanity-publishing medium, and therefore, the ultimate place for those of us who like to watch. The Internet can reach an audience at lower cost than any medium before it.
But every fool describes, in these bright days, His wondrous journey to some foreign court, And spawns his quarto, and demands your praise,-- Death to his publisher, to him 'tis sport.
The term 'celebrity memoir' has gotten such a bad name now, but there used to be a little bit of an art form to it.
There is an enormous shadow industry of scammers and amateurs who prey on aspiring writers, who divert people from the real publishing industry into this shadow world of vanity publishing and fee-charging agents.
There's something not normal about you if you're writing a book about yourself, or about anything. And if you're the kind of person who can deal with being recognized by strangers and if that's tolerable or pleasing to you, and not immediately terrifying, that's not normal either.
We publish only to satisfy out craving for fame; there's no other motive except the even baser one of making money.
